From fossil trader to paleontologist: on Swiss-born naturalist Santiago Roth and his scientific contributions

Abstract

Roth’s explorations, the resulting collections many now allocated in La Plata, Zurich, Geneva and Copenhagen, and his significant contributions in geological—especially stratigraphic—and paleontological topics, are a paradigmatic case for the global history of paleontology and for the Swiss migration history in Latin America. His work included the discovery of a diverse megafauna from the Pampean region, of sites and strata in Patagonia of paleontological significance, and the recognition of a group of endemic ungulate mammals, Notoungulata. Roth’s discovery of a human skeleton associated with a glyptodont carapace is one of the first reports of the coexistence of humans with the extinct fauna of the South American Quaternary. Roth became a renowned scholar at the Museo de La Plata, which was a leading scientific institution in the nation-making of Argentina, particularly in the expansion of the Patagonian frontier. He also kept strong ties with his native Switzerland, where late in his adult life he obtained some formal training and tried to attract other Swiss nationals to work in natural sciences in Argentina. His biography sheds light about the circumstances of his scientific collection and career in the interstices between amateur and professional science, modernity and imperialism at the turn of the twentieth century.

On Roth’s “human fossil” from Baradero, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina: morphological and genetic analysis

“…Santiago Roth (1850–1924), born as Kaspar Jacob Roth in Herisau, Switzerland, was a fossil aficionado who migrated with his family to Argentina in 1866 and settled in the Swiss colony in Baradero, the oldest town of Buenos Aires Province, next to the Paraná River (Sánchez-Villagra et al, 2023 ). From a young age, Roth was interested in the natural sciences, and as soon as he arrived in Baradero, he started collecting paleontological specimens.…”

“…From a young age, Roth was interested in the natural sciences, and as soon as he arrived in Baradero, he started collecting paleontological specimens. This activity shaped his professional life, since he became an active fossil finder and international fossil dealer who contributed to set the foundations of paleontology in Argentina (Sánchez-Villagra et al, 2023 ). As a result, he became a mediator between Argentina and Europe in the acquisition of fossil samples for natural history museums (Scheinsohn, 2021 ).…”

“…Moreover, this presumably ancient individual received less attention compared to other remains from South America. Other, more studied individuals include the Sumidouro series recovered by Peter Lund, the “Diprothomo” and “Tetraprothomo” specimens described by Florentino Ameghino, and the Fontezuelas (or Pontimelo) skeleton, which was also recovered by Santiago Roth (Sánchez-Villagra et al, 2023 ); a few of which become popular in the late 19 th and early twentieth century among scholars interested in anthropology and archaeology (Ameghino, 1880 , 1887 , 1909 ; Hrdlička, 1912 ; Lund, 1845 ; Mochi, 1910 ; Roth, 1889 ; Schwalbe, 1910 ).…”

Santiago Roth and his scientific legacy: a reappraisal of the Swiss collections

“…A reappraisal of the Swiss collections" aims to distinguish his pioneering work, as well as to showcase the efforts of a multidisciplinary team from both sides of the Atlantic. Two articles of this volume review some historical aspects, with novel documents, field observations, and pictures to vividly maintain the memory of this pioneer of our field (Sánchez-Villagra et al, 2023;Voglino et al, 2023). The other eight articles focus on the systematics of Pampean Pleistocene mammals, principally based on specimens from Catalogue N°5 of Zurich but also featuring fossils in other European institutions that possess material originally collected by Roth (Geneva and Denmark).…”